February 28, 1945

Towards the end of the war, the men of Kommando Welter also took over jobs typically assigned to the Flugzeugüberführungsgeschwader – they were picking up new aircraft assigned to the unit at the assembly sites and would fly them back to their base at Burg near Magdeburg.

One such flight was happening on February 28th, 1945: Fw. Karl-Heinz Becker had traveled to southern Germany, to Memmingen. There, he picked up a new aircraft, which – according to his Flugbuch – was “Rote 5”.

He flew the aircraft back from Memmingen to Burg – a distance of about 500 km as the crow flies – in just 47 minutes. The aircraft is said to have been Werknummer 110 630[1]Jurleit, Manfred; Strahljäger Me 262 im Einsatz; Page 179,[2]O’Connell, Dan; Messerschmitt Me 262 Production Log; Page 98 but I am lacking a confirmation by either a photo or an official document so far.

Around the same time, 10./NJG 11 was also receiving additional pilots – as far as it is known today, at least former Lt. Kurt Lamm and Lt. Herbert Altner must have joined the Staffel around this time.

And of course, the Royal Air Force could not let go the opportunity to make a clear statement of who ruled the skies: the attacked Berlin with 74 Mosquitos during the night of February 28th, 1945, to March 1st[3]Middlebrook, Martin et al.; The Bomber Command War Diaries; Page 672.